The Lagos State Public Works Corporation (LSPWC) said on Sunday it had rehabilitated 524 roads in 2021 and was targeting the rehabilitation of an additional 600 by 2022.
The corporation’s spokesman, Samuel Ayetutu, in an interview with the Nigerian News Agency (NAN), said that more than 1,000 roads were repaired between June 2019 and December 2021.
Mr. Ayetutu said that various categories of major and minor rehabilitation works have been carried out on 524 roads, repaired in 2021 alone, adding that the corporation has a target to repair 600 in 2022.
“LSPWC has worked on some 1,000 roads, that is, between June 2019 and December 2021, and this has ranged from full road construction to strategic and major rehabilitation.
“It also includes routine maintenance, some were internal roads within public facilities, some were heritage roads. And some of the work was palliative work that was carried out to provide temporary relief, especially in the rainy season when there was no conducive weather for full-fledged operations.
“LSPWC generally spreads its operations across the 20 local government areas, so we have every part of the state that benefits from all of these roads that have been mentioned, which came to about 1,000.
“And if we break it down further to the year 2021 alone, from January to December some 524 roads were worked following the same pattern of various levels of interventions,” he said.
Ayetutu said that six roads were completely built from start to finish, while 111 strategic roads were repaired by 2021.
He explained that strategic highways were important long stretches that linked communities, abutted major highways, and were used to disperse traffic from major roadways, built almost from scratch to finish.
“Our goal for 2022 is to exceed the number of roads that were built in 2021, so we are looking at a minimum of 600 roads to work on.
“The same pattern of sectional rehabilitation, comprehensive rehabilitation, strategic roads, internal roads, heritage roads and others will be followed,” he said.
He said the corporation was able to meet the challenges of repairs during the rainy season by using cold asphalt and interlocking pavers.
“Our work is usually planned according to the weather forecast,” he said.
He said LSPWC has three asphalt plants in Ojodu, Imota and Badagry with a collective production capacity of 570 tons per hour, at 95 percent capacity, making response to road repairs quick.
However, he called on Lagos state residents to take ownership of the projects and protect roads from all kinds of abuse, warning that drainage fill compounds and flooding have caused rapid road degradation across the country. the state.
“It is more profitable for all of us to treat the roads well,” he said.
He added that the corporation was collaborating with other relevant state government agencies to step up advocacy to educate residents about the dangers of road abuse to ensure a change in attitude.
He thanked Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration for adequately funding the corporation to efficiently pursue his vision of mass rehabilitation of zero potholes and traffic jams. (YAYA)